COLLEGE STATION — Mike Sherman certainly anticipated some rough spots in his debut as the Texas A&M head coach.

That’s football.

But what he couldn’t have expected was such a sustained lull and the gut-punch the Sun Belt Conference’s Arkansas State delivered Saturday night en route to a stunning 18-14 upset of the Aggies in front of 78,691 at Kyle Field.

So begins the new era of heightened expectations as the Aggies offered perhaps their worst home loss in recent memory.

“This is a game you expect Texas A&M to win, and that’s not taking anything away from Arkansas State,” said Sherman, whose Aggies saw their 20-game home-opening winning streak come to an end. “They did a phenomenal job, and I give them all the credit in the world. But we were at home, and we expected to beat them.”

The problem was that memo obviously wasn’t relayed to the Red Wolves as they put forth a spirited second-half rally, while taking advantage of miscues by the heavily favored Aggies.

A&M committed four second-half turnovers and Richie Bean missed a field goal to squander a 14-3 halftime lead. The Aggies’ offense, which seemed in control in the first half with running back Mike Goodson appearing to be the fastest player on the field, came unraveled in the final two quarters as Arkansas State scored 15 unanswered points.

Those little things would be like McGee’s two interceptions, one which led to a Red Wolves field goal. Then there was Howard Morrow’s lone catch of the night — a 5-yard reception — that became a fumble and led to another Arkansas State field goal.

And then for all of the breathtaking runs Goodson made in accumulating 124 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries, it was his fumble late in the fourth quarter that undermined a comeback bid and led to Josh Arauco’s fifth field goal, a 37-yarder that put Arkansas State up by four points with 1:12 remaining.

“We couldn’t get anything going,” Sherman said. “We could never get a rhythm.”

But it wasn’t just the A&M offense. The defense, rotating between three-man and four-man fronts, allowed the Red Wolves’ methodical ground attack to make piercing runs right at its core all night.

If it wasn’t running back Reggie Arnold slamming inside for chunks of yards, quarterback Corey Leonard was keeping it himself for major yardage. The two of them accounted for all but 29 of Arkansas State’s 255 yards on the ground.

But then the most staggering blow came when Leonard found receiver Kevin Jones alone in the corner of the end zone for a 15-yard scoring pass with 4:39 remaining to put the Red Wolves up 15-14.

“Sometimes it’s like that little Dutch boy trying to plug up the dike,” said A&M defensive coordinator Joe Kines. “You run out of fingers sometimes.”

The question now becomes where do the Aggies go from here with a tough game next weekend at New Mexico before returning home to face the Miami Hurricanes on Sept. 20th? Sherman insists he believes his new team will bounce back.

“I’ve been in situations like this before, and I told the guys you can learn more about yourself from adversity than you ever can from winning a football game,” he said. “My biggest concern on the sideline really was deflation when we weren’t executing very well. And I didn’t feel that.

“There was a sense of urgency in talking to the players. So I think I learned something about them.”